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This National Library Week join HKS Library & Research Services, Harvard Law School Library, the Loeb Library at Harvard Graduate School of Design, local library leaders, and Harvard policy experts for an exclusive campus screening of the new documentary The Librarians.

The film explores the recent wave of book banning across the US and profiles the public librarians defending First Amendment freedoms. As tensions escalate between lawmakers, public leaders, and community members, the librarians excavate the extremist underpinnings fueling censorship efforts. Despite facing harassment, threats, and laws aimed at criminalizing their work, the librarians work tirelessly to ensure intellectual freedom for all members of their communities.

Event Agenda

• 5:00-5:15PM -- Enjoy pizza and settle in.
• 5:15-5:30PM -- Opening remarks, featuring:
  • Ana-Sofia Gonzalez and Haruna Shimizu, MPP Candidates 2026, Harvard Kennedy School.
• 5:30-7:00PM -- Screening of The Librarians.
• 7:00-7:30PM -- Panel discussion and audience Q&A, featuring:
  • Kim Long, Director, Watertown Free Public Library.
  • Timothy Patrick McCarthy, Faculty Chair, Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Program, Harvard Kennedy School; Lecturer on Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Why Do Book Bans & Libraries Matter to Democracy?

Democracy means We the People are systematically empowered to live free from domination by participating in our own governance. In a democracy we have freedom from interference, but more importantly we have freedom to co-create the structures governing our communities. This freedom depends on key institutional pillars: free and fair elections, rule of law and due process, separation of powers, a free and independent media, and the protection of human rights including freedom of expression, association, religion, and privacy.

Democratic institutions are healthy only if We the People have access to reliable information from multiple perspectives, the ability to gather and deliberate with fellow community members, equal opportunity to participate, and trust in government and one another. In other words, democracy relies on a robust civil society as a check on those at the highest levels of power.

Public libraries are the only institutions that guarantee all community members the tools to participate in every aspect of a democracy. As democratic infrastructure, public libraries curate a knowledge commons that supports reflective engagement on democratic questions. They also provide the physical spaces where civic learning can occur, both independently and as a collective. Across the United States, public libraries provide these resources to 96% of the population, making them more ubiquitous than McDonald’s or Starbucks.

What happens when public libraries come under threat for upholding democratic principles? Across the country, public libraries have in recent years faced an unprecedented wave of censorship and book banning efforts – attempts to remove library materials based on perspectives some see as harmful. These efforts have primarily targeted books about race and racism, books featuring LGBTQ+ perspectives, and books for older readers that have sexual references or discuss sexual violence. In several cases, these efforts have succeeded not only in getting books removed from library shelves, but in getting librarians fired or entire libraries shut down.

In responding to these efforts, public librarians have found themselves on the frontlines of democracy. The Librarians tells the stories of these public librarians.